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Military Stockpiles: A Life-Insurance Policy in a High-Intensity Conflict?

Studies
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Focus Stratégique
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Focus stratégique, n° 113, décembre 2022
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The war in Ukraine is a reminder of the place of attrition from high-intensity conflict in European armies that have been cut to the bone after three decades of budget cuts. All European forces have had to reduce their stocks to the bare minimum. As a result, support to Ukraine has meant a significant drain on their operational capabilities. A significant amount of decommissioned systems were also donated, due to the lack of depth in operational fleets.

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Russia, for its part, has mobilized the vast stocks inherited from the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) to support its war effort after the initial failure of its "special military operation". The process of renovating the oldest systems was also increased, while Russian production of modern equipment remained insufficient.
 
The current conflict therefore sees mixed fleets of very modern systems and much older - even obsolete - ones from long-term stocks. This situation prompts us to question the stockpiling strategies of the French armies and to compare them to those that exist elsewhere.
 
> This publication is also available in French: Stocks militaires : une assurance-vie en haute intensité ?
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ISBN / ISSN

979-10-373-0685-2

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Military Stockpiles: A Life-Insurance Policy in a High-Intensity Conflict?

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Léo PÉRIA-PEIGNÉ

Léo PÉRIA-PEIGNÉ

Intitulé du poste

Research Fellow, Security Studies Center, Head of the Defense Research Unit, Ifri

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 A soldier watching a sunset on an armored infantry fighting vehicle
Security Studies Center
Accroche centre

Heir to a tradition dating back to the founding of Ifri, the Security Studies Center provides public and private decision-makers as well as the general public with the keys to understanding power relations and contemporary modes of conflict as well as those to come. Through its positioning at the juncture of politics and operations, the credibility of its civil-military team and the wide distribution of its publications in French and English, the Center for Security Studies constitutes in the French landscape of think tanks a unique center of research and influence on the national and international defense debate.

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Group of kamkazza combat drones against the background of sky and clouds, top view, 3d rendering. Concept: war in Ukraine, drone attack.
Observatory on Future Conflicts
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The Observatory of Future Conflicts is a research program carried out by the French Institute of International Relations and the Foundation for Strategic Research on behalf of the three army headquarters aimed at studying developments in tensions and armaments at the horizon 2040 in a transversal perspective, taking into account the issues of each army.

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Fury from the Skies. A Strategic Analysis of Air Campaign against Iran

Date de publication
07 May 2026
Accroche

What is the outcome of Operations Roaring Lion (RL) and Epic Fury (EF), launched by Israel and the United States against the Islamic Republic of Iran on February 28, 2026?

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Finland: The Ally Who Came in from the Cold

Date de publication
10 April 2026
Accroche

Among all European countries, Finland is perhaps the one whose strategic culture and military model have changed the least since the end of the Cold War. Built after the end of the Second World War to deter a potential new Soviet invasion, this model enabled Finland to serve as an example of European rearmament.

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Stability under Pressure. A Pakistani View on Nuclear Deterrence after Pahalgam

Date de publication
24 June 2026
Accroche

The May 2025 India-Pakistan crisis after the Pahalgam attack has generated a familiar but incomplete debate: did nuclear deterrence work, or did it merely allow both sides to fight a limited war under the nuclear shadow? The better answer is that deterrence worked at the level at which it was designed to work. It prevented a general war and an uncontrolled vertical escalation, and kept nuclear weapons in the background. But it did not prevent India from attempting to carve out space for conventional action, nor did it prevent Pakistan from responding conventionally to restore deterrence credibility.

Rabia Akhtar
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Strategic Shift in NATO’s Support for Ukraine. A Study of NSATU and PURL Initiatives

Date de publication
04 June 2026
Accroche

This study analyzes a significant transformation in NATO’s practical support to Ukraine, marked by the establishment of the NATO Security Assistance and Training for Ukraine (NSATU) mission and the Prioritized Ukraine Requirements List (PURL) funding mechanism.

Iryna KRASNOSHTAN

How can this study be cited?

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Léo PÉRIA-PEIGNÉ, « Military Stockpiles: A Life-Insurance Policy in a High-Intensity Conflict? », Studies, Focus Stratégique, Ifri, 6 December 2022.
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Military Stockpiles: A Life-Insurance Policy in a High-Intensity Conflict?